Kachumber Salad

An Indian chutney is probably not the first recipe one would associate with Keith Floyd but I first made this fantastic fresh relish after reading “Floyd’s India“. This recipe post is a little tribute to his memory.

Unfortunately, you don’t usually see this zingy relish served in regular Indian restaurants – probably because it’s fresh and therefore too expensive to produce. Also, there’s not much shelf life it, it must be made fresh and eaten straight away. Serve with plenty of poppadoms and a few beers; a “slurp”, if you will…

Ingredients

6 tomatoes

1 red onion, finely chopped

½ cucumber, de-seeded and finely chopped

1 red chili pepper, de-seeded and finely chopped

fresh coriander, handful, finely chopped

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 lime

salt and pepper

Method

Add the chopped onion to a large bowl along with half the lemon juice. I always do this when I prepare a fresh salsa; the acid from the lime cooks the onion slightly and removes the harsh taste.

Remove the seeds and core from the tomatoes. Finely chop the tomato flesh and transfer to the bowl.

Add the finely chopped cucumber, chili and coriander.

Toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan until fragrant. Grind to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle and add to the bowl.

Season to taste with some more lime juice, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well and serve.